> I don't seem to need this information to do what I do Are you sure about that? Have you never tried to do something, found it was taking forever, and gave up

> I don't seem to need this information to do what I do Are you sure about that? Have you never tried to do something, found it was taking forever, and gave up? Maybe you concluded it was impossible, or you found some way to approximate what you needed. I am another self-taught programmer, and believe me you are going to be kicking yourself once you do learn a few good algorithms and data structures. Your favorite accomplishments -- intricate beasts that you felt you had tamed with much sweat and effort -- are going to turn into five or six lines. Or maybe two or three small, easy to understand programs. Impossibly large amounts of data are going to look easily tameable. > How does one achieve this? Not so hard - read a good book. There are lots.